Ba, Sonia’s paternal grandmother, told her husband she wanted to return to her homeland, Rangoon. Dadiji, Sonia’s grandfather, told his wife that it was late at night and she wouldn’t be able to start her journey without applying for her passport and visa. Ba was restless as she anticipated Sonia would be married off with the ancestral dowry and her bank vault would be bare. Ba desired to return to Rangoon to search for her ancestral heirloom, a ruby that was the size of a pigeon’s egg.
It was weird that an elderly, married woman would talk about returning to her old homeland, to search for her lost family gem. That too, without her husband.
The following morning, Dadiji woke up to discover that Ba had died in the night. She knew she was returning home and was preparing by packing a small duffel bag with a change of underwear and toiletries.
This episode uses a common trope of the dying woman talking about returning home, even when she has been living in her matrimonial home for decades. In dying, she returns home.
This trope is from this book.
The main book review is https://artmater.com/explaining-the-loneliness-of-sonia-and-sunny/